Everyday Hero, your fanboy news roundup

Oct. 15, 2008 | 2:42 p.m.

Welcome to your daily collection of handpicked headlines from around the fanboy universe. First a flashback: Here on the left is one from the vault, one of my favorite covers from the wartime Fawcett comics. It’s "Captain Marvel Jr." No. 31 from July 1945, the same month that President Harry S. Truman approved orders for the use of the atomic bomb.

Now on with today’s roundup …

Laura Hudson interviews Brian Azzarello (writer of "100 Bullets") on his nihilistic new graphic novel, "Joker," about an ex-con who becomes a henchman to the infamous evil clown of DC Comics. "Joker" was completed before the "The Dark Knight" was filmed, but Azzarello says its resonates with Heath Ledger’s interpretation: "If that Joker is what people want, then this is the book for them. What we wanted to try and do something realistic with the character, and what it’s like living in a city with a crime boss who’s completely insane." [Publisher’s Weekly]

"Smallville" creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are part of the team that will produce the Warner Bros. film "Headshot," an adaptation of the French graphic novel series "an unlikely alliance between a cop and a hitman [that] takes place after each watches his partner die. The new partners seek revenge and discover they have a shared enemy and much in common despite being on opposite sides of the law." [Variety]

Revving up: "Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5," a CG-animated television for Cartoon Network, is being ramped up by Nelvana and Mattel Entertainment and is scheduled to premiere next fall. [Hollywood Reporter]